After occupying the dim-lit corner of a main entrance to the La Crosse Center for more than a decade, three local Service offices recently took a mid-winter plunge by relocating their display booth to the bright lights and well-trodden walkways on the main-floor of the exhibition hall during the 33rd annual La Crosse Boat, Travel, and Sports Show. Located along a serpentine path amidst more than eighty other exhibitors, no one attending the show could miss what the Fish and Wildlife Service had to offer in 2010.  As in past years, a large aquarium stocked with native fish and mussels from the Genoa National Fish Hatchery was prominently displayed to catch the attention of passers by.  While stopped here, staff from the La Crosse Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, and members of friends groups supporting these offices engaged more than sixteen-hundred visitors in conversation during the four-day event.  Key topics of discussion this year included: local opportunities to connect children with nature and out-door activities; aquatic habitat restoration efforts in Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River; invasive species; and the construction of a new La Crosse district office and visitor center for the refuge on Brice’s Prairie.  Coinciding with the celebration of Valentine’s Day this year, sport show visitors were encouraged to select a Service-designed Fall in love with nature valentine to share with someone special.  The opportunity to personally exchange natural resource information with the large, diverse audience that attends this annual event makes Service participation here a valuable outreach tool for all La Crosse area offices.

 

 

 

 Service staff and friends group members greeted visitors to the agency’s display booth at the annual La Crosse Boat, Travel, and Sports Show.  Photo credit: Owen Johnson.